The Order-to-Cash Business Process in a WMS Integration
This section discusses:
Order entry.
Reservation processing.
Order release processing.
Order changes.
Shipping processing.
The order-to-cash business process enables companies to sell their goods and services to customers. Here is an overview of the process in a WMS integration:
PeopleSoft components are used to take the customer orders, reserve the orders against available quantity balances, and release the orders to the WMS.
In the WMS, the orders are picked, packed, and shipped to the customer.
PeopleSoft provides shipment tracking, advanced shipment notice transactions, costing, accounting, invoicing, and cash collection functions.
Order-to-Cash Process Flow in a WMS Integration
The following diagram illustrates the order-to-cash flow between PeopleSoft and a WMS. The PeopleSoft system is the entry point for the order where the stock is then reserved and released to the WMS using the Shipping Order Release service operation. The WMS picks, packs, and ships the order and sends the details back to PeopleSoft using the Inventory Pick Confirm service operation or the Inventory Shipping service operation. PeopleSoft then completes the costing and billing steps:
The following diagram illustrates the order-to-cash flow between PeopleSoft and a WMS
The EIPs that support the order-to-cash business process in a WMS integration are based on a number of assumptions. The following sections detail the assumptions for each phase of the order-to-cash business process.
In a WMS integration, orders are captured and staged for fulfillment in PeopleSoft tables. PeopleSoft Inventory enables you to capture demand for stock from many sources, including sales order entry functions in PeopleSoft Order Management and material stock requests accepted from other PeopleSoft business units and third-party applications.
Regardless of demand source, all orders that are staged for fulfillment in the PeopleSoft Inventory the demand fulfillment table, IN_DEMAND, can be processed in a WMS. However, orders issued with the Creating Express Issue Stock Requests in PeopleSoft Inventory cannot be processed in a WMS. Express issue orders bypass picking, packing, and shipping functions are directly inserted into the PeopleSoft Inventory history table, TRANSACTION_INV.
Before the order can be released for picking in a WMS, the demand line must set to the releasable fulfillment state by reservation processing in PeopleSoft Inventory. A demand line can be set to the releasable state with soft-reserve, ATP promise, pre-allocation, or just released downstream for picking. A demand line could be fully or partially back-ordered by the reservation process.
Pre-allocations
Pre-allocations are a hard allocation of quantity at the material storage location level when orders are in the unfulfilled state. Pre-allocations include hard allocations created by the pegging feature and lot-allocations. In PeopleSoft Inventory, the Order Release Request process is run to generate the Shipping Order Release EIP. This service operation sends the hard allocations to the WMS . If PeopleSoft Inventory receives a transfer transaction for a pre-allocated item from the WMS, the transaction is rejected because allocated material cannot be transferred. Do not use pre-allocation processing if the WMS implementation has procedures that require transferring material from a material storage location to a shipping area before sending data using the Inventory Pick Confirm EIP or the Inventory Shipping EIP.
Back Orders
If back orders are permitted for orders, the back order processing takes place in PeopleSoft Inventory. Back order functionality in the WMS is not used in a WMS integration. If you allow order lines to ship with partial quantities, demand lines with the available portion of the requested quantity are inserted into IN_DEMAND, where they can be released for picking in the WMS.
In a WMS integration, running the Order Release process in PeopleSoft Inventory releases eligible orders to the WMS to be picked, packed, and shipped. For PeopleSoft Inventory business units under external warehouse control, the Order Release process using the Shipping Order Release output option, sends the order data to the WMS using the Shipping Order Release EIP.
The sort selections available from the Additional Options page of the Order Release process do not control the sequence of the orders in the Shipping Order Release service operation. The order data sent to the WMS is separated into logical orders based on breaks in the following sort sequence:
Business unit.
Demand source.
Source business unit.
Order number.
Customer ID.
Ship to ID.
Address sequence code.
Carrier ID.
Ship via.
Note: If the Ship Using TMS Reference ID check box is selected on the Inventory Definition page then the orders released to the WMS system will be set up and sorted using the TMS Reference ID and TMS Reference ID Line Number.
Note: If the address information for an order is modified before order release, the address fields are added to the sort sequence.
For each logical order, there is a single order header that contains the address and shipping information for the order. The Order Release process assigns an external reference number to the order header. For each Order Release process run, the external reference numbers are assigned to order headers sequentially starting with 1. This number is also referenced on each demand line associated with the order header and can be viewed on the Stock Requests Inquiry page. The combination of the external reference number and the pick batch ID provides a unique key that the WMS uses to identify a specific order release transaction.
The data sent by the Shipping Order Release service operation contains detailed information for each line on the order, including details of quantities allocated to specific items and material storage locations. Lot detail for lot-allocated demand lines is always provided; however, quantity allocation for push picking plans is provided on an optional basis only.
The order release transaction in a WMS integration is the same for both pull and push picking plans. However, if you use a push picking plan (Create Allocations action on the Order Release process page), the quantities are allocated at the material storage location level. If PeopleSoft Inventory receives a transfer transaction for an allocated item from the WMS, the transaction is rejected because allocated material cannot be transferred. Push picking plans should not be used if the WMS implementation has procedures that require transferring material from a material storage location to a shipping area before sending the data using the Inventory Pick Confirm EIP or the Inventory Shipping EIP.
To delete an order line from a pick batch ID, you must manually delete the line in both PeopleSoft Inventory and the WMS. To delete the order line in PeopleSoft Inventory, use the Material Picking Feedback page. (This is the only circumstance in which the Material Picking Feedback page is used in a WMS integration.) If you do not also delete the order line in the WMS system and the line is returned to PeopleSoft Inventory on an Inventory Pick Confirm EIP or an Inventory Shipping EIP, the line is rejected because it is no longer associated with the order.
The Shipping Order Release EIP does not include substitute item detail as provided on picking plans in PeopleSoft Inventory. However, all other notes tied to a picking plan are included in this data. In addition, the Shipping Order Release EIP includes any notes associated with the bill of lading to support WMSs that print their own bills of lading.
In general, once an order is released to the WMS, any changes made to the order in either the WMS or in the PeopleSoft system must be manually communicated between the two systems. The PeopleSoft system does not send any order change information to the WMS. Changes made to the order shipping information in the WMS for the carrier, shipping method, and freight terms are sent to the PeopleSoft system as part of the Inventory Pick Confirm EIP or the Inventory Shipping EIP. Any other order changes made in the WMS, however, must be manually duplicated in the PeopleSoft system.
You can cancel an order line at any time until the order line has the status Shipped in PeopleSoft Inventory. However, in a WMS integration, first cancel the order in the WMS and then cancel the order in the PeopleSoft system using the Cancel/Hold Stock Request page. If an order canceled in PeopleSoft Inventory is actually shipped in the WMS, PeopleSoft Inventory rejects the transactional data from the Inventory Pick Confirm EIP or the Inventory Shipping EIP received from the WMS. You cannot reverse an order cancellation in PeopleSoft Inventory.
When the WMS ships an order, it sends shipping information to the PeopleSoft system using the Inventory Shipping EIP. This service operation contains all the information necessary to pick, pack, and ship individual orders in the system tables. In addition to providing basic information, the transaction creates single-level shipping containers and ship serial IDs.
The Inventory Pick Confirm EIP may be used in place of the Inventory Shipping EIP if the actual shipping action will occur in the PeopleSoft system. This EIP provides all information necessary to pick and relieve bin location inventory balances but does not ship orders. Information necessary to create single level shipping containers and ship serial IDs may also be provided on this EIP.
A third alternative for providing shipping information is the Shipping Notification EIP. In prior releases, the Shipping Notification EIP was used to send back picking and shipping details from the WMS system. The Shipping Notification EIP is available for backwards compatibility to earlier releases. However, if you are currently implementing the integration point between PeopleSoft Inventory and a WMS, use the Inventory Pick Confirm or the Inventory Shipping EIP instead of the Shipping Notification EIP.
No matter which of the above three EIPs are used, shipping information overriding carriers, shipping methods and freight terms can be entered on the transactional data if changes were made at shipping time. In addition, a unique Ship ID can be assigned to each shipment coming from the WMS system. However, if the Ship ID is left blank, the system will automatically assign a shipping ID as the order is shipped.
Note: A single release order line cannot be split across two different shipping IDs.
Shipping Notification EIP
The system converts the Shipping Notification EIP to either an Inventory Pick Confirm or Inventory Shipping transaction as the data is processed by the subscription process assigned to the Shipping Notification EIP. The original Shipping Notification data is written to the transaction log (BCT_CTL and BCT_DTL) in a complete status for audit purposes only. The system also writes the Inventory Pick Confirm or Inventory Shipping transaction data to the transaction log.
The shipping notification EIP includes the shipment header and shipment lines. A shipment designated by a shipment header is defined as a shipment event for a single carrier ID, ship type ID, freight terms value, ship date, ship time, and bill of lading. These field values must be identical for all lines defined for the given instance of a shipment header.
Shipping History and Documentation
PeopleSoft collects and tracks shipping history based on the information from the Inventory Pick Confirm EIP or the Inventory Shipping EIP. If a bill of lading number is sent to PeopleSoft Inventory in the data, the PeopleSoft system updates the demand fulfillment table, IN_DEMAND, for tracking purposes only. A bill of lading is not created in the PeopleSoft system.
In a WMS integration, the required shipping documentation is usually generated using the WMS; however, you can also generate this documentation using PeopleSoft components.